An Interdimensional Wedding
by Sharkey52
Summary: The Arc-V cast assembles for a Fruitshipping wedding. Bets are made, shenanigans ensue and what happened to the Best Man? Of course *something* was going to go wrong. (A sequel to "Miss Hiiragi…is this your dress?", but you don't need to read that one to understand this) (This one-shot is alternately titled "Attack of the minor characters")


**I had so much fun writing "** **Miss Hiiragi…is this your dress?" that I decided I just had to write the actual wedding. After watching the new opening, I also decided I wanted to write in as many minor characters as I could, so the amount of names in this story is insane, hence the length. It's also been fun exploring how certain characters who have never met or only had brief interactions in the actual series might interact in a situation like this. Although as I posted this, I suddenly realised I forgot about those three young kids from the beginning of the anime whose names I forget - darn it a knew I missed someone! Just imagine they're in the background dancing somewhere.**

 **This very long oneshot (nearly 15,000 words. Wow!) is set in canon in Standard Dimension, about six months after "** **Miss Hiiragi…is this your dress?" and about eight years after the show ends.**

* * *

 **An Interdimensional Wedding**

Serena ran a hairbrush down the length of Yuzu's strawberry locks. Her hair was getting so long; Serena was confident it was catching up to Ruri's. It certainly couldn't be held up in pigtails anymore, even if Yuzu hadn't done that in several years now.

Yuzu was seated in front of her at the dressing table, face blank as she stared into the mirror.

"What are you thinking about?" Serena asked as she caught Yuzu's gaze in the mirror.

"Nothing really" Yuzu replied, her voice quiet "This is just so…surreal. I don't know what to think."

"You know there's nothing to worry about" Serena tried to reassure her with a small smirk on her face "You really think I'd let you go through with this if I disapproved?"

Yuzu laughed, her face cheery again. "You don't exactly sound very approving."

"Nonsense" Serena told her "You know I trust Yuya, even if he is a blockhead sometimes. Even so I'm going to be keeping an eye on him. If he tries so much as anything, today or any day, I'll kick his butt all the way back to Fusion."

Yuzu laughed again, but this time, Serena could tell it was to conceal tears. "I'm really scared, Serena."

Serena frowned. She'd never been to a wedding (thanks to Rin and Yugo deciding to elope, which resulted in utter outrage from Yuya because "This was my only chance to be a best man! I can hardly see Gongenzaka getting married any time soon, huh?! How could you take this away from me?!"), though she had been there when Yuya's parents renewed their vows after the war was over. That didn't seem scary at all.

"Of what? Yuya? Did he say something? Do I have to punch him?"

"No, of course not. He's been perfect. I just-" Yuzu sighed "I'm just worried about leaving my father on his own. I don't want to abandon him like my mother did. He was so devastated for a really long time because of that. I know it sounds stupid-"

"It is stupid" Serena cut her off "Your dad's fine on his own. You're not abandoning him and he knows that. Besides, you live, like, one street away from him or something? You're happy, and if your dad contains even the semblance of being a good father, he'll know that's what's most important."

"Thanks Serena" she thanked her "You know, I always envisioned my mother dressing me for my wedding."

"The same mother who abandoned you and your dad when you were a toddler?" Serena didn't seem impressed "Am I that bad? Do you want me to get Yoko?"

"No no no! You're doing great! You're going to be the best Maid of Honour ever!" Yuzu quickly backpedalled "I know my father's done his best and Yoko's been a great mother-in-law but, well, it's just, getting ready for the wedding is something daughters are supposed to share with their mothers, you know? Whenever I thought about getting married I'd just…envision her here, no matter how silly that it." She looked at Serena in the mirror, who still didn't seem convinced. "What about you? Would you want your mother there when you got married?"

"I don't even remember her" Serena informed her with a scoff "Besides, I'm not getting married until menopause kicks in. Anyone who can deal with me during that _deserves_ my hand in marriage."

"Oh Serena!" Yuzu was close to laughing again "I'm sure you'll find _someone_."

"You seriously think so?" Serena raised a questioning eyebrow with a heavy amount of mocking "Everyone's terrified of me. And unlike you, _my_ dimensional counterpart's all but shacked up with another man."

Giggling, Yuzu looked at her own reflection and patted the bun Serena had managed to tie her hair into. "Wow, nice job. I shouldn't be surprised though – your hair always looks so nice."

"Yeah, just don't tell anyone I dolled you up for your wedding" Serena told her "I have a reputation to upkeep after all."

"Oh yes, the Big Bad Scary Serena doing her friend's hair for her special day" Yuzu mocked her "Who would've thought."

At that moment, before Serena could respond, a familiar bespectacled face poked her head through the door.

"Er, Yoko sent me to see how thing were coming along-oh my goodness!" Sayaka gasped and, for a second, Yuzu wondered if something was wrong. She was put at ease by Sayaka's next statement as the younger girl skipped over to her and pulled her to her feet. "You look amazing!"

She twirled Yuzu around like they were dancing at a ball, her excitement contagious as Yuzu beamed with joy too.

"You really think so?" Yuzu asked, looking into the mirror at the wedding dress that had been fitted onto her not long ago. It was the dress her father and friends had helped pick out for her (which was an adventure in itself) and she was very proud of it.

"Absolutely!" Sayaka nodded eagerly.

Wiping the tears from beneath her eyes, Yuzu declared: "I'm almost ready. Do you think you could help me with my makeup?"

Sayaka brought her hands to her mouth with shock. "Oh my goodness I would love to! Let's get started, shall we?"

As Sayaka pranced over to Yuzu's makeup bag, quizzing the bride on which colour she preferred and which eyeshadow shade looked the best, Serena took note of the man who was leaning against the wall outside the room, though kept peeking his head in from time to time. They had never officially met, but Serena was willing to put money on this being Sayaka's best friend Allen, although he looked completely different all grown up and minus any of the garishly-coloured ponchos that dominated her few memories of him.

"Spying on the bride?" she tutted.

Allen frowned. "I'm making sure Sayaka isn't harmed while we're in this dimension."

Oh yeah, the over-paranoid one. She'd forgotten about that. Well, he had the right to be, she supposed. She wondered if he remembered she was from Fusion or if it was just any dimension other than Xyz that the paranoia spread to.

"So, where's the rest of your party?" she asked "There's a whole bunch of you, right?"

"Shun insisted on doing Ruri's hair" Allen told her "Yuto's visiting the groom and Edo and Kaito…are getting drunk or something? I dunno. I don't even know why they came."

The unspoken 'I don't even know why _I_ came' in the air remained unaddressed.

"Oh yeah, I forgot Edo was still living over there" she realised "I never would've thought he and Kaito would get along that well."

"It surprised me too" Allen said in such a way that seemed to indicate he was highly disappointed that Kaito was getting along so well with the perceived enemy.

"Hey, Allen, Serena!" Sayaka looked over at them, holding out two tubes enthusiastically "Which colour lipstick would look best on her?"

"What the hell do I know about lipstick?" Allen snapped, ducking back behind the door again so he wouldn't have to deal with Sayaka's disappointed face.

"Sorry girl, you're asking the wrong person" Serena basically answered the same as Allen had, but with a touch more politeness.

"Well then, you better hurry up and change, Serena" Sayaka told her "It's getting close to the deadline."

"You are the Maid of Honour after all" Allen chipped in "In Xyz, it's a custom for the Maid of Honour to look presentable for the wedding."

"Allen" Sayaka clicked her tongue disappointedly and Serena saw Allen wince at her tone.

Serena was about to say something back when she caught a glimpse of Yuzu's glistening, hopeful, blue eyes staring at her.

"Alright, fine" she sighed, shaking her head "I'll go change. Don't trip and die while I'm gone."

* * *

"I told you to stop doing that. You'll ruin all that hard work."

Yuto rolled his eyes as Yuya tightened his tie for the millionth time since Yoko and Yushou had left the room. Upon helping her son into his tux (which, Yuto had to admit, he looked pretty nice in, but he could be biased since he had helped pick it out) and crying for a short while about how her baby was all grown up and getting married, Yoko had vacated the dressing room with her husband (after he wished Yuya good luck) and left Yuto with the groom, who appeared to be working himself up into a full-blown seizure.

"I-I'm sorry" Yuya spluttered out as Yuto stepped forward to repair the tie again "I'm just…so nervous, I…I need to do something with my hands."

Yuto nodded with understanding and handed him a comb from the dressing table. Yuya's shoulders slumped with a small amount of relief as he gripped the comb with one hand, running the fingers of his other hand up and down the bristled edge.

"Just don't cut your hand open or something" Yuto warned him "I don't plan on being the one to tell Yuzu that her groom won't be marrying her today because he put himself in the hospital."

That didn't appear to help as Yuya's face turned deathly pale. "Oh god, I'm marrying Yuzu. Oh god. Oh god."

"Shouldn't it be god _s_?" Yuto pointed out "I mean, if we're talking about-"

"I'M MARRYING YUZU TODAY!"

And now all of Standard and probably most of Xyz knew as well.

Unsure if Yuya was incredibly excited or incredibly mortified at the statement, Yuto decided to try comforting him. "I'm pretty sure there's nothing to worry about. I mean, I can hardly see her standing you up at the altar. I'm pretty sure nothing short of the whole place burning to the ground is going to stop this wedding."

Yuya just kinda screamed like Yuto had told him a relative had died or something, the comb flying across the room, before slumping in the nearest chair and resting his head on top of his folded arms on the dressing table.

Clearly Yuto was only making the whole thing worse. "Do you want me to…call your mother back, or something?"

Yuto chose to interpret the vague moment from the area of Yuya's head as a shake.

"Ok" he shifted awkwardly from foot to foot "You are sure you don't want to call the whole thing off, right? I'm pretty sure no one will be all that angry if you just aren't ready yet. I'm pretty sure even Yuzu will understand-"

"No!" Yuya insisted, his face emerging from his arms to greet the world again "It's not that I don't want to marry her! I really do! I just don't want her to regret it!"

Yuto raised an eyebrow. "Yuzu? Regret marrying you? You remember that marriage is a two-person decision, right? Yuzu wants to spend the rest of her life with you as much as you do with her. If she was having any doubts, believe me, she'd let you know."

Yuya mulled this over for a while, before breaking out into nervous laughter. "God, I'm a mess."

"You will be if you start crying" Yuto warned him, pulling him to his feet so he could straighten his tie again "Think you can keep yourself calm until the ceremony at least? If you freak out after that, well, then it's Yuzu's responsibility."

Another bout of nervous laughter emerged from Yuya's throat. "Thanks Yuto. You're the best Groomsman #2 a groom could have."

Yuto frowned. "I'm not Groomsman #1?"

"No, because Groomsman #1 has to stand closest to the groom and tradition says it has to be the tallest one" Yuya informed him smartly.

"Since when?" Yuto asked "Is that a tradition in Standard that my dimension doesn't have?"

"I guess, I mean, Sora said it, so it must be-" Yuya's face fell "Please tell me he wasn't punking me."

Yuto tried to think of a nice way to break the bad news. "As unfamiliar as I am with Fusion weddings, I'm inclined to say, yes, he was just messing with you so he could call himself Groomsman #1."

Yuya groaned with exasperation, but didn't get to say anymore as the door burst open with a flourish with the arrival of Yugo.

"Hey guys! No one's dead, right?" Yugo checked.

"Maybe Sora, after the wedding" Yuya informed him.

"Er…okay" Yugo shrugged the strange comment off "Anyhow, where's the Best Man? I mean, if he's gone AWOL, I know a guy that would be very happy to stand in for him."

"Gongenzaka's making sure all the preparations for the ceremony are ready" Yuto informed him with a little smirk "Nice try."

Unbeknownst to Yuya, these two particular groomsmen had been passive-aggressively jibbing at each other for weeks in a little competition to see who would get to be the Best Man should something happen to Gongenzaka.

"Really? Poor guy – he's spent the whole morning double and triple checking everything. I'm pretty sure it doesn't need a quadruple check" Yuya commented "I think I've driven him up the wall and back with this whole Best Man thing. If he wants to drink himself into the only full night of sleep he's had in weeks at the after party, no one stop him. He's earned it."

"So, is that an offer?" Yuto raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"No, I'm not saying that" Yuya slapped him on the shoulder affectionately "I'm just saying that he has every right to."

"What offer?" Yugo asked, looking between the two in confusion "Did I miss something?"

"Shun and I have a bet going" Yuto explained "I think Kaito's going to be the first one to get completely buzzed at the after party. Shun thinks it's going to be Serena. I'm trying to get Yuya to join in."

Yugo looked down at his feet and shook his head, laughing. "I dunno…"

"Oh really?" Yuto seemed curious.

"My money's on Allen" Yugo spoke up "The way he's been acting around Sayaka all day. She'd gonna wanna dance with Kaito and Shun, right, cos they're her friends. And he's gonna totally throw a fit and get really drunk cos he's angry, right?"

"That…does actually sound like him" Yuto nodded thoughtfully "Alright, you're in. Yuya, how about you?"

"Guys, come on" Yuya shook his head "If people want to get drunk, that's okay. That's what the open bar's for, right?"

"Hey, we're not saying people can't drink" Yugo pointed "We're just guessing who'll get completely plastered first."

Yuya looked down at his feet for a few moments before looking up at Yugo with a sly smile.

"I'm betting on you, Yugo" he declared.

Yugo looked scandalised. "You're what?!"

"I mean, every time we've had alcohol you've tipped over after the second glass" Yuya pointed out "You have such a low tolerance you won't _need_ to have loads to drink to get completely drunk."

"You think I'm going to get drunk tonight?" Yugo pouted "Seriously?"

"I'd like to see you prove me wrong" Yuya challenged him.

Yugo grinned evilly. "You're on."

Yuto couldn't help but feel like he'd just started a fight that was about to blow up in his face completely.

* * *

Somewhere between picking out the flowers ("But roses are so romantic!" "But Yuri says tulips have a better meaning than roses." "You're asking _Yuri_ for advice on our wedding?!" "He's a plant expert!") and organising the guest list ("But he's our friend!" "He tried to kill you!" "Well if that's a limiting factor we're down to what, two people?") a theme for the wedding had to be settled on. Since the bride and groom had settled on a summer wedding, a few themes had been tossed around, ranging from Caribbean Sun to Beach Fun. Serena was about to intervene because she was fairly certain no guests wanted to go to a wedding in which they were going to have to deal with seagulls and sand between their toes, a sensible idea was finally produced.

"I like yellow."

"Yellow, huh? Certainly summery. That's a great idea, Yuzu."

"All the guests could wear yellow. Or maybe some light orange?"

"…If you can convince Kurosaki or Yuri to wear yellow or 'light orange', I'm pretty sure we could take that as a sign that another interdimensional war is coming because that's a miracle right there."

"Well, maybe white isn't too much of a stretch? White with yellow ties? I always hate it when men wear black suits to weddings – it's not a funeral!"

"I'll try talking to them. Your job is to convince Serena to wear a yellow dress."

"Oh, that'll be easy. Just watch."

It wasn't easy. Serena made sure to push the envelope as far as she could before finally giving in. Hence, she was currently walking along the corridors of the hall the wedding was supposed to take place in the same pale yellow strapless dress that all the bridesmaids were wearing. She'd recently made the nervous-racking decision to get her ears pierced ("What the heck, that was just a pinch. I thought you said this really hurts Dennis!") so she was now sporting plain diamond studs to match her silver heels.

She'd only arrived in Standard yesterday, and hadn't really had a lot of time to take in her new surroundings. With about half-an-hour before the ceremony to go, she was taking advantage of the break from being Maid of Honour that Sayaka had provided her with.

"But why?!"

Serena jumped and looked into a room with an open door. Inside she saw two teenagers whom she was fairly convinced were two of Crow's kids, albeit much older than the last time she saw them.

"Because I'm the flower girl" the girl (Amanda, she was sure of) declared "You're just a random mook."

"Yeah, you're the flower girl, Tanner's the ring boy" the boy (Frank? Frankie? Fitzgerald? She should remember this) complained "What am I, chopped liver?"

Leaving the kids to their argument (was she that young and ridiculous once?) Serena continued down the hall. For a place she knew to be packed with guests, the halls were all rather empty. She guessed that everyone was either getting ready or already packed into the room in which the ceremony was going to take place.

Ceremony. Yuzu was getting married. It was still a little too much for her to take in.

She decided to head back over to the side of the building where the ceremony was going to take place. She was confident Sayaka could get Yuzu ready and Shuzo may want time along with his daughter before he had to give her away, so Serena may as well wait for her cue.

Opening the door to enter another hall, a black and white blur squeezed itself through the open door and through Serena's legs.

Without a duel disk to defend herself, Serena made the unconscious decision to switch from her usual fight mode to flight. She screamed and threw herself to the side, colliding with the wall next to her.

A cat. A black-and-white cat bounded past her and down the corridor, playing Serena no mind.

Shocked and embarrassed, Serena appropriately calmed herself down, fixing her hair before turning to enter the door she'd opened when the cat had scared her.

"Now _that's_ something people would pay money to see."

Serena felt a sinking feeling within her as she saw who was now standing in the doorway. Of all the people…

It was most definitely Sora Shuin'in. Serena had seen him numerous times on her trips to Standard, and so his late growth spurt that made him a good six inches taller than her didn't surprise her at all. With did surprise her was how nicely he'd brushed up for the big day. His hair was held up in a neat high ponytail rather than the mess of blue that it normally was. He was dressed in a suit and nice shoes and she couldn't see a lollipop anywhere.

"Well I'll be damned" she remarked "I almost didn't recognise you Shuin'in."

"Hey, I can dress up all good when my best buddies are getting hitched" Sora remarked.

"Yuya's still one of your best buddies?" Serena raised an eyebrow "Last I check you got passed over to be the Best Man."

"Pah! Why would I want that?" Sora scoffed "Too much hard work. This way I just get to turn up, be in all the pictures, get free food at the party and not have to lift a finger."

Serena tutted disappointedly. "I didn't think you were that lazy."

"And I didn't think you'd make it as a Maid of Honour" Sora retorted "I thought you'd try and sabotage the whole thing and we'd find Yuya's body in vat of acid floating in the harbour."

"Don't be stupid – if Yuzu loves him, I'm not about to stop her" Serena told him "But when he does something stupid and breaks her heart, I'll be the one she runs to for the ice cream."

"Hey – I'm the candy expert. I'm the one with the ice cream" Sora joked "If I wasn't a guy, I'd make the best Maid of Honour ever. Though I may have to rethink the dress."

Serena couldn't help it, she actually laughed. The image of Sora wearing her Maid of Honour dress had jumped into her head almost as soon as he said the words, which she was pretty sure he was aiming for.

"Who're the bridesmaids anyhow?" Sora asked "I have to walk down the aisle with one of them, right?"

"Rin and Ruri definitely are" Serena told him "I know Masumi was going to be one of them, but she turned it down for some reason. I think Sayaka was going to take her place."

Sora groaned. "God, I'm dead."

Serena frowned. "Why? Are you insulting my friends?"

"No" Sora appeared like he was resigned to his fate, whatever that was "But if I walk down the aisle with Rin, Yugo will kill me. If I walk with Sayaka, Allen will kill me twice. And if I go within a few feet of Ruri let alone walk down a damn wedding aisle with her, every guy from Xyz will pounce on me and the police will have to be called to pry them off my dead body. Either way, I'm screwed!"

"Relax, Yuzu saw that coming – the groomsmen walk in first, then the bridesmaids after" Serena explained.

"Oh thank god!" Sora's shoulders slumped with relief "You're a life saver!"

"I didn't do anything, thank Yuzu" Serena told him, pushing past him through the doorway "Do it after the ceremony though. I'm gonna go wait in the foyer."

"Hey, I'll come with you" Sora decided, following her down the hall.

"Do what you like" Serena just shrugged "Just make sure you're at the alter in time or I'll kick your teeth in for making Yuzu cry."

"Yes sir!" Sora joked.

"And one more thing, Shuin'in" Serena added, turning around so that Sora could see the absolute seriousness in her eyes "Tell anyone about me and the cat, and you won't have to worry about those guys from Xyz."

Sora swallowed nervously. "Y-Yes sir! Lady! I-I…what do you call a scary woman?"

"Serena."

* * *

"Where is she? The ceremony is about to start!"

"Calm down, man. There was probably just a wardrobe malfunction or something. The wedding can't exactly start until the bride gets here."

Gongenzaka didn't appear to care. He kept wringing his hands, looking like he wanted to pace back and forth so badly, like all his life's hopes and dreams rested upon this wedding going off without a hitch. Yugo watched him with worry, looking over the room packed with guests anxiously waiting for the ceremony to kick off, and wondering if he should suggest to Yuya that Gongenzaka should sit down for a moment, because the Best Man passing out before the vows could be spoken probably wasn't a good thing, although Yugo had to admit he would probably celebrate because someone had to take over as the Best Man, right?

Gongenzaka looked ready to pass out, Yuya not too far behind him, and even Sora was casting worried looks at the pair.

Yeah, in Yugo's opinion, this was why he and Rin just skipped the whole big white wedding thing on their go around – far less stressful.

Just as Yugo and Yuto were silently debating over whether to speak up or intervene in some way, a ballad started playing and everyone in the room abruptly stopped talking and turned to face the double doors at the end of the aisle, the boys straightening their ties and the girls brushing down their dresses. Yuya and Gongenzaka visibly relaxed as Amanda made her way down the aisle, throwing petals into the air before they tumbled to the ground. Yugo couldn't see her family from where he was stood, but he could practically feel the grins of pride radiating from Shinji and Crow and the equally strong waves of sulkiness from Frank.

Next came the bridesmaids, each dressed in yellow. Shun and Allen visibly straightened in their seats as Ruri and Sayaka walked by, looking over the audience in a way that clearly said "Say anything against my sister/best friend, and you're dead". Yugo was amused to note that Kaito and Haruto, sat next to the pair, seemed to slump in their seats with embarrassment for being associated with them.

As she passed Yugo to stand on the bride's side of the alter, Rin winked at him. He winced back, a big grin on his face. They may not have had a big white wedding, but they loved each other and everyone knew it, and that was enough for the both of them.

Following them was Tanner, the ring boy. He was the youngest attendee present, but he would also be the first to admit he wasn't the first choice for ring bearer. That had been Reira, but the boy had freaked out at the idea of having to follow a routine in front of so many people, and the second Reira backed out, Haruto refused to have anything to do with ring bearing. So Tanner was given the official honour and Frank had never forgiven him.

Serena was next, walking down the aisle on her own with a bouquet of yellow flowers. She was beautiful, of that there was no doubt, but to Yugo, she came across more as 'scary older sister' than joyful Maid of Honour. She all but stared daggers into the audience as she took her place by the alter. Yuya whispered something to her, maybe "are you alright?" or perhaps "chill out", but whatever it was, it worked, because she stopped being quite so intimidating.

Finally, at the very end of the aisle, Yuzu came into view in the familiar grown and veil that Yugo had helped pick out. Her arm was liked to her father's, who looked like he had been crying and still had a tear in his eye. The traditional 'Here comes the bride' started playing as father and daughter slowly made their way up to the alter.

Yuya was openly gaping at his bride until Gongenzaka forcibly moved his jaw back into position. Yuzu was grinning nervously, holding back tears. Yugo swore she'd never been more beautiful.

Upon reaching the alter, and with a bit of prompting from Yuzu, Shuzo reluctantly let go of her arm and sat down in the audience next to Yoko and Yushou before bursting into tears of, probably, pride.

"Who's supposed to read all the mumbo-jumbo and hitch them up, anyhow?" Sora asked.

"It's there supposed to be a priest or something?" Yugo frowned.

The corner of Yuto's lips twitched with amusement. "Just wait and see."

Out of nowhere and to the surprise of pretty much the entire room, Reiji Akaba stood up from his seat and stood in front of the alter between the groom and bride. Okay, apparently Reiji was the officiant.

"What the hell" Sora muttered "Since when did Akaba-AH!"

He winced and make a pained noise as Yuto pointedly pressed his foot onto Sora's toes.

"Dear beloved" Reiji began to recite the oaths, but by the look of it, Yuya and Yuzu weren't exactly listening. They were too busy staring into each other's eyes. Gongenzaka and Serena were fully prepared to prompt them when it came time for the vows because clearly they weren't going to remember to say them.

"When did Reiji become a priest?" Rin frowned.

"Hey, who said he was a priest?" Ruri pointed out "He may just be an officiant at the courthouse or something."

Ruri had a point. Leaning forwards to peer past the bride and groom, Rin caught Yugo's eye.

"Did you know?" she mouthed.

Yugo stared back at her with a look on his face that clearly said he was as confused and surprised as she was.

They must've been more distracted with the Reiji priest issue than they fought, because the next thing Yugo knew, he was being elbowed in the ribs by Yuto and Reiji was finishing it all off.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife" Reiji said in his usual monotone that made it seem like he didn't care, but though whose knew him well enough knew he was happy "You may now kiss the-"

Before he could finish, Yuzu thrust her bouquet into a startled Serena's hands and all but threw herself at Yuya's face.

"…the groom, I guess" Reiji finished, before moving away from the alter to sit in his seat again.

Claps and whistles began to fill the room as the audience jumped up to applaud the newlyweds, Yugo yelling to the crowd:

"Come on! Louder! Louder! Don't Yuya and Yuzu deserve better than that?!"

Yuzu smiled at her new husband. "I love you."

Yuya smiled back with an equal intensity of joy. "I love you too."

"Oh god! I thought the sappiness was supposed to stop after the wedding!"

"Shut up Sora, it's their wedding! They can be as sappy as they want! Now clap louder!"

* * *

Everyone was encouraged to move into the party room not by the bride and groom or even the Best Man or Maid of Honour. Instead, it was by Sora with his demands for cake, already!

According to the assigned table planning, there were seven people per table that were organised in as diplomatic a fashion as possible. With the Tyler sisters not making an appearance and Serena acting at Maid of Honour, that only left three of the original six permanent residents of Fusion invited to sit. Edo had already volunteered to sit with the people from his home dimension, and eventually it was decided Yugo, Rin and Kaito would also sit with the group, provided Haruto remain with his new best friend Reira under Reiji's watchful eye. It wasn't a terrible idea by any means, as most of the people at the table knew each other and with Yugo around, a conversation was inevitably going to start up.

"What do you think their first dance will be to?" Rin wondered as the group set their things down at the table.

"How to save a life" Dennis joked, with just earned him a lot of unamused glances "What, I thought it was funny."

"Time After Time. Cyndi Lauper" Edo suggested.

Kaito smirked with amusement. "I'm surprised you know who Cyndi Lauper is."

"I'm surprised you _both_ know who she is" Asuka commented.

As it turned out, the first dance was to some Standard song that only Dennis recognised, but they all clapped and Asuka got teary-eyed anyway. Then, as more people started to head out to the dance floor, the DJ started to play and the whole group groaned in unison.

"I hate this song."

"I love this song!"

Except for Yugo apparently.

"I don't know this song" Yuri frowned, his tone dry.

Dennis patted him on the shoulder. "Good for you, man. Good for you."

"It's the most annoying song of all time" Rin groaned "But apparently Yuya loves it."

"I didn't think they would break it out right away" Asuka commented.

"The Electric Slide" Yugo informed Yuri, who was looking increasingly confused and irritated at the lack of any real information "Don't you know the dance?"

"There's a dance?" Yuri raised an eyebrow "To this musical monstrosity?"

"Yeah! Come on! I'll show you!" Yugo declared, grabbing Yuri's arm and dragging him to his feet and over to the dance floor, much to Yuri's horror and the amusement of the rest of the table.

"Go on Yuri!" Dennis hollered after them "Show him how we from Fusion dance!"

If Yuri was any indication, not well at all.

"Oh god, what is he doing?" Rin commented, her eyes wide with horror as Yuri tried to keep up with Yugo's enthusiastic moves "He's at least three beats off."

"Which one" Kaito scoffed "They're both equally bad."

"I need a drink just watching them" Edo declared.

"I'm going to look at the flower arrangements" Asuka announced, standing up and walking up towards the bouquets.

"I'll see how the bride is feeling" Rin said, walking over towards the bride and groom's table.

For a while, it was only the three of them, watching Yuri and Yugo butcher the popular party dance. Then Dennis got an evil look on his face and he stood up.

"Where are you going?" Edo felt the need to ask.

"Kurosaki just got roped into a conversation with the Professor's son" Dennis explained "He'll have his back turned for ages. Time to see to see if the little Xyz bird knows how to shake her feathers."

Edo and Kaito felt they were in no hurry to stop him as the Performage duelist set out on what was clearly a suicide mission.

"If Yuri catches him, he's a dead man" Edo remarked.

"If _Shun_ catches him, he's a dead man" Kaito added.

Dennis maybe be somewhat insane, but his departure did leave the atmosphere at the table pretty awkward.

"So" Kaito tried to find some way to clear the awkwardness "Do you…want to dance?"

"Ha. Yeah, that's a good one" Edo replied sarcastically, smirking with amusement at the absurd suggestion.

"Ok, want to make snarky comments about everyone instead?" Kaito revised the offer.

Edo came very close to grinning. "I knew there was a reason I liked you, Tenjo."

* * *

"Yuzu Sakaki" Rin approached Yuzu with two glasses of champagne "That'll take some getting used to."

"Is this for me?" Yuzu asked, pointing at one of the glasses.

"Well, I was going to give it to Serena, see how she's holding up, but I can't seem to find her – so I'll just have to settle for the bride instead" Rin told her jokingly.

"I'm right here" Rin jumped as Serena's voice sounded from behind her, and arm reaching around her to take one of the drinks "Thanks a lot."

Yuzu laughed and accepted the other one from the flustered Rin.

"Cheers to Yuzu and her blockhead husband" Serena declared, clinking their glasses together before taking a sip.

"Oh I see how it is" Yuzu laughed "My wonderful Fusion counterpart, still being a protective mama bear."

"I'm not a _mama bear_!" Serena protested "I'm looking out for my best friend's best interests."

"She doesn't need protection, Yuya loves her more than anything" Rin declared, smiling at Serena sympathetically "Although later tonight, well, unless kids are on the agenda, she could probably use some…"

Yuzu, who'd been trying to take a sip of her champagne, nearly choked herself to death at Rin's implication. Serena too got very flustered, but probably more from the mental images Rin's words had conjured up in her mind.

"What's going on?" Yuya asked as he approached them, wrapping his arms around Yuzu from behind, which encouraged her to laugh again.

"Just Rin being herself" Yuzu told him, offering him the glass "Have a sip, sweetie."

"She calls him _Sweetie_ " Serena grumbled, but low enough so only Rin could hear her.

"With pleasure" Yuya agreed, reaching out to take the glass.

However, before his hand could make it there, a set of much nimbler fingers snatched the glass from Yuzu's hand.

"Cheers!" Sawatari grinned as he gulped the whole thing down in less than a second and then flung the glass over his shoulder with a flourish.

A loud crash followed by a yelp echoed across the room.

"Oops!" Sawatari winced "Probably should've thought that through."

Yuya lowered his forehead to Yuzu's shoulder with a groan.

* * *

"Whoa, this is all for us?!"

Crow had to admit, his children had every right to be drooling at the buffet table. Though the situation in Synchro had vastly improved from where they once were, it was a rare treat to behold such a feast, even at such a momentous occasion as a wedding.

Snapping out of his daze at all the magnificent food (the frugal part of him wondering who was footing the catering bill), Crow quickly laid down the ground rules before the trio could attack the dishes. They may be teenagers now, but they were still his kids and he wasn't about to let them get in trouble.

"Alright, everyone, I just want to say something before you eat" he spoke up, earning a pair of groans from Frank and Tanner "Don't take that tone with me, young men. This food is for everyone at the party. If you scoff it all, then you'll really upset Yuya and Yuzu."

The boys dipped their heads guiltily. Neither one of them wanted to see Yuya or Yuzu upset.

Amanda raised her hand and offered a suggestion. "How about we only take two things from every tray? Then there'll be enough to go around."

"Very nice idea" Crow nodded in approval "Just remember to clean your hands regularly and if you don't like something that you've already taken a bite out of, you put it in the bin. Not back on the tray. Tanner, all the spicy stuff is marked out so don't eat from the trays with the red dots on them."

Tanner nodded, sticking out his tongue at the word 'spicy'. He hated spicy food with a passion and was well known for spitting it back out again when he tasted it.

"And finally" Crow declared "You see those plastic cups with the water and apple juice in them?" He pointed out the drinks on a separate table. "You can drink from those, but none of the others. The small table at the far end of the room is where you put the dirty cups once you've drank from them."

"What about the other drinks?" Frank asked "The ones in the fancy glasses?"

"Don't even think about it" Crow frowned "If I even catch you near those glasses you're getting all privileges revoked for a month."

The three kids winced. Crow admitted, he hated disciplining them, but he wasn't going to have them getting drunk because he'd been too slack on them.

"But Shinji's drinking from the glasses" Tanner pointed out.

Crow had to resist the urge to throw a dirty glare at Shinji on the other side of the buffet table. The guy had apparently been dared by Jack and Sora to drink two glasses of wine at the same time without spilling any. Why did he even bother bringing him to parties? Some example he was showing to the kids.

"What's the number one rule in our house?" he immediately quizzed the kids.

"Don't swear, even if the person deserves it?" Frank guessed.

"Don't steal, even if Crow and Shinji do it?" Tanner supplied.

That probably should be the number one rule, come to think about it. Crow made a mental reminder to re-evaluate the rule list upon their return home.

"Shinji may do nice things for us, but Crow is always right" Amanda recited.

Crow preened with pride. "Come Amanda, my favourite child. Let's sample the doughballs first, shall we?"

He took his fourteen-year-old daughter's hand and they headed off to get some plates, while Frank and Tanner protested at the notion of Amanda being the favourite child because "I thought you said you didn't choose favourites, Crow!"

* * *

"What the hell is _this_ dance?" Yuri stared at Yugo like the Synchro boy had gone crazy.

"It's called the Macarena" Yugo informed him, dancing along with the rest of the crowd "You'll get the hang of it."

Yuri scowled as he made wild hand motions and tried to stay in time with Yugo. "You know, in Fusion, we don't normally dance at weddings."

"Well, damn, you got lucky" Yugo commented.

"What did you just say?" Yuri snapped, immediately wheeling on Yugo at the slightest hint of an insult.

"It's just" Yugo tried to find the right words that would allow him to survive this night "Look man, you have the worst timing ever."

"Timing?" Yuri asked for clarification.

"You're so far off rhythm you may as well be doing the funky chicken" Yugo informed him, and although Yuri wasn't entirely such what a 'funky chicken' was, he could infer that as being an insult.

"Don't insult me or your body may be found in several pieces in the dumbwaiter" Yuri scowled.

"You're the dumbwaiter!" Yugo shot back, laughing at his new insult "You can't even do the Macarena!"

Yuri just groaned, doing his best to keep in time with the rest of the crowd as the song launch into what he assumed was another verse. "That's not a verb."

* * *

Rin hated parties.

It wasn't that she didn't enjoy socialising or free alcohol. It was just all the parties she'd ever attended back in Synchro seemed so full of fake niceties and people trying to play an angle to get what they wanted. It was enough to make her puke sometimes and on more than one occasion, she and Yugo had gone conveniently missing just before the dinner.

This particular party, on the other hand, was a lot of fun. Watching from her new seat at the bride and groom's table, she could see real smiles on everyone's faces, joy in every step of their dancing. She could see Sora trying to impress the kids with how many meatballs he could stuff inside his mouth, Dennis attempting to show Ruri how to do the tango whilst Kurosaki and Yuto watched them from the drinks table (both looking like they wanted to painfully murder one certain member of the dancing pair) and Yugo trying teach Yuri the Macarena dance with Reira and Haruto bravely joining in.

It made Rin a little upset. She and Yugo had skipped the whole big white wedding because they assumed that wedding parties were really no different to other parties, and they couldn't exactly sneak out of their own party without upsetting the guests. Instead, they just headed to the courthouse and signed the documents with Shinji and Crow as their witnesses, then the four of them went to a fast food restaurant with the kids to celebrate. At the time, it was all she'd ever wanted. But seeing this wedding party, it made her wish she'd held one of her own.

"You okay?"

Rin glanced over her shoulder to see an unfamiliar face staring at her from the table behind her. She tried running the long brown hair, the short stature and the fangs through her database of faces, but this one wasn't getting connected with a name.

The boy must've noticed her confusion, as he quickly introduced himself. "Yaiba. I'm a Synchro duelist too, from here in Standard."

"Oh!" Rin nodded along "You must be one of Yuya's friends."

"Yeah, and you're from Synchro right?" Yaiba guessed "A whole city full of Synchro duelists." He whistled with appreciation. "What I'd give to see that."

"It's less exciting than you'd think" Rin told him "It's just another city."

"Anyway, you alright?" Yaiba asked, now appearing concerned "You were just looking pretty sad over there."

"It's nothing" Rin tried to reassure him "I was just thinking about my own wedding, and how it was so different."

"Oh, you're married!" Yaiba's face lit up "Me too! Well, engaged, but we've got it booked this winter."

"Good for you" Rin congratulated him "Will you have a wedding party?"

"Well duh!" Yaiba laughed "Maybe not as big as this showdown, but the party's the fun part!"

"Oh" Rin couldn't help but feel a little disappointed "I never had a wedding party. I guess I missed out on a lot."

"Not really" Yaiba tried to reassure her, looking like he felt a bad for upsetting her, however unintentionally "But if you want you could always have a late wedding party."

Rin stared at him in confusion. "What?"

"Well no one ever said you had to have the wedding party on the day of the wedding, right" Yaiba pointed out "I always used to have a late birthday party. A late wedding party's gotta be the same, right?"

Rin paused for thought and then nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

"No problem" Yaiba stood up "Anyhow, I'm gonna go get some of that pizza. See you later, I guess."

As Yaiba disappeared in the crowd towards the buffet table, Rin's eyes were drawn to her husband, who looked dangerously close to being stabbed by Yuri by this point.

Hmmm, maybe Yugo wouldn't object to a late wedding party.

* * *

"I don't understand. Why would somebody throw a champagne glass at your head?"

Allen winced as the bloody gash on his head beneath the rag he was using to stem the blood flow began a fresh round of throbbing painfully. Jack, who had just found the boy sitting on the main staircase, was staring incredulously at the boy. It appeared he'd washed his cut, but there were still glass shards in his thick hair.

"Well do you have a better suggestion?" Allen shot back furiously "I highly doubt it's raining champagne glasses in there! GAH!" He pulled the blood-soaked rag away from his head and stared at it before putting it back again with more pressure "Ugh, people are already getting drunk and they haven't even cut the cake yet."

Jack snorted and his body quivered a little.

"Are you _laughing_?!" Allen roared, but doing so made his head hurt even more and the wince that followed kinda took any real power out of it.

"Of course not" Jack responded, his voice not giving away any particular emotion, certainly not amusement "There is nothing about another person's pain that should be amusing."

Before Allen could give the former riding duel king a verbal lashing, both were startled by a high-pitched shriek from the entrance to the party room. Sayaka was stood there, a look of horror on her face.

"Allen, what happened? You're bleeding!" she cried, rushing over to the stairs to sit next to him and examine his wounded head and wounded pride.

"A champagne glass fell out of nowhere and hit me on the head" Allen grumbled, but Jack noted with interest that he didn't seemed half as irritated as he was before now.

Sayaka took the rag from his hand and gently dabbed at his head with worry in her eyes. "Are people really getting drunk this early?"

"That's what I said!" Allen complained, the pair not noticing Jack making a skilful exit.

"It's a shame you didn't have an umbrella or something" Sayaka commented with a giggled, getting a smile out of Allen in response. "We should probably get some antiseptic or something. We don't need your head getting infected."

"Yeah, you're probably right" Allen agreed, and with that, the pair headed off in search of a medicine cabinet.

* * *

"So what's this one called?" Yuri groaned, noticing that Akaba's kid brother was more in time than he was.

"The Cupid Shuffle" Yugo informed him "You just go to the left when the guy says left, right when he says right, kick when he said kick, and that's pretty much it. Even you can't mess this up."

Yuri frowned and considered making a snarky comeback, but then the DJ said 'kick' and he kicked instead.

"Hey Yuri."

"Oh what now?!" Yuri complained "Am I not kicking in time now?"

"You're supposed to kick to the beat" Yugo told him, demonstrating for reference "You can't just do one little karate kick thing and then just stand there."

"Why not?" Yuri protested.

"Because that's not how you do the Cupid Shuffle!" Yugo laughed like Yuri was the stupidest person on earth.

"Don't tell me how to dance, Synchro Scum" Yuri scowled, seeing the crowd start to move differently to them "What are we doing now?"

"We turn around…" Yugo explained, grabbing Yuri's arm and slowly turning him around on the spot to the beat "And then we do it again."

Yuri grumble as the same tune started repeating itself. "In Fusion, dances are about class, and certainly not this moronic."

"Which is probably why Fusion's known for its military might and not its dances."

* * *

"Weddings always make me depressed" Masumi commented, spinning her glass of scotch with her fingers without actually drinking it.

"How come?" Gongenzaka asked, seated next to her at the bar.

"My mum's a divorce lawyer" Masumi explained "She'd come home and talk about all the unhappy couples she had to deal with every day. It just depresses me whenever anyone talks about a wedding, because whenever they do, I can only ever hear how it'll end. Misery and pain."

"You don't think Yuya and Yuzu will end up like that, do you?" Gongenzaka stared at her in alarm.

"I don't want to think so" Masumi told him, spinning the scotch glass across the bar top and out of her reach accidentally "I want to think they're the lucky exceptions to the rule. But I want to think that about everyone, and inevitably I'm wrong most of the time." Masumi sighed loudly. "See why weddings are depressing? God I so wanna get drunk."

"Why don't you?" Gongenzaka pointed out, taking a sip of his own…what was it again? Oh well, it tasted alright. "It's an open bar. I'm sure no one would object."

"My sister's pregnant" Masumi explained "I promised her I'd go completely sober with her until the baby was born. Should've known better to come to a wedding with that mentality."

"Hey, whatcha doing?" Sawatari appeared at Gongenzaka's shoulder "I didn't think you drank."

"Halil promised me it wasn't that strong" Gongenzaka explained, looking around for the man who'd provided him with the drink, but it appeared Halil had disappeared when Masumi showed up to sit next to him "I don't want to get too drunk and make a fool of myself at my friends' wedding."

"Oh, that's a relief" Sawatari remarked "Yuto and Yugo are already vying to try and steal your speech. You getting drunk would put pour fuel on the fire."

Gongenzaka frowned. "What speech?"

"The Best Man's speech" Masumi informed him "The one the Best Man makes during dinner, talking about the bride and groom and how great they are and all that."

"I have to make a speech!" Gongenzaka appeared alarmed.

"Yeah, did no one tell you?" Sawatari's eyes widened with alarm "Shit, that's not good. Guess you'll just have to make it up as you go."

"I don't do public speaking!" Gongenzaka was getting increasingly distressed "I can't speak in front of an audience!"

"Well you're gonna have to" Masumi informed him "That or hand it over to Yuto or Yugo."

"They can have it!" Gongenzaka declared hurriedly.

"Come on, you're going to let those guys steal your sacred duty from you?" Sawatari frowned with mock disappointment "I thought you had more honour than that."

Gongenzaka looked between Sawatari and his glass with wide eyes, before downing his glass in a single gulp and reaching for another one.

"Whoa man, whoa!" Sawatari quickly took the glass from "Don't drink that. We don't know what in that stuff! It could be 100% vodka for all we know! Getting drunk is no excuse for getting out of your speech!"

Gongenzaka stared at Sawatari affronted, before getting up from the bar stool and heading off towards where a crowd of people indicated the bride and groom were, probably to beg for leniency.

"That was mean" Masumi told Sawatari as he sat down on what had previously ben Gongenzaka's stool "That was just weak apple cider and you knew it."

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him" Sawatari informed her "As entertaining as it would be to see him try to drink the whole bar, I need him sober."

"So he can make a speech?" Masumi frowned "Are you that sadistic?"

"I'm trying to save us" Sawatari told her "If Yuto makes a speech it'll go on for several hours and everyone will fall asleep. If Yugo does it, someone will end up being murdered. I'm not having those sub-standard duelist morons ruining Yuya's big day. Even that big lug stammering his way through a congratulations will end better, and faster, and that's good for everyone."

"I didn't think you were that thoughtful" Masumi commented.

"I'm not" he told her "I just want a guy who's helped me out a lot to have nice memories of his wedding. Is that so wrong?"

"Absolutely not – I'm sure Yuya will appreciate it" Masumi commented, looking at the selection of beverage before them "So, back on happier topics. What's your poison?"

* * *

Ruri had a problem. It appeared she'd managed to lose both her brother and her friend in the space of a few minutes.

She'd only been dancing for a few minutes (Dennis had been trying to show her a tango, but Ruri was certain she needed more practise at it before she broke it out at any future parties), but in the short time she'd had her back turned, it appeared both Yuto and Kurosaki had disappeared from their position by the drinks table.

This was not good. As much as she wanted to trust them not to cause a scene at Yuya and Yuzu's wedding…

She scanned the room for the pair, but she couldn't see either of them. Either they'd left the room or the dimension altogether. She could only pray they hadn't tried to leave the room and had gotten lost in the expansive manor.

She decided to ask for some help. Looking near her, she was relieved to see Yushou Sakaki standing nearby, watching his son dancing with Reira.

"Um, Sensei?" she tried getting his attention, which got an instantaneous result.

"Oh, Ruri" he smiled at her "Are you having fun?"

"Oh! Of course! Yes!" Ruri nodded with enthusiasm "It's just, my brother and Yuto appeared to have gone somewhere."

"Your brother looks very different without that trench coat" Yushou informed her with a nostalgic smile "But I believe I saw them both running towards the bathroom."

The bathroom? That couldn't be good.

Thanking Yushou for his help, Ruri immediately headed to the only bathroom on the ground floor. Without caring it was a men's bathroom, she pushed inside, determined to find out in her brother and friend were in any trouble.

To her relief, she saw Shun, leaning against one of the dividers that separated the stalls. Although, to her alarm, she also heard the sound of someone being violently ill.

"Shun, what happened?!" she cried "Is someone ill? Do they need to go to hospital?!"

"Ruri!" Shun jumped with surprise upon seeing his sister in the one room in the manor he thought she wouldn't follow him into, before relaxing, albeit with a few lines of worry on his face "I think we're alright now. Yuto just ate something that didn't agree with him."

"Is that Ruri?" Ruri heard a familiar voice groan from inside the stall.

"Yuto?" she peered in to see Yuto curled into the space between the toilet and the divider. He looked like he was struggling to decide whether to continue clinging to the porcelain god or sit down because his legs were shaking so violently.

"Ruri, don't come in" Yuto told her "I don't want you to ruin your dress."

"Forget the dress!" Ruri protested, kneeling beside him on the bathroom floor "Are you okay? You don't need an ambulance, do you?"

"No, I'm fine" Yuto groaned "I just need few-" His face suddenly turned green "MOVE!"

He pushed Ruri aside and bent back over the toilet, emptying his stomach into the bowl.

"Okay, maybe we're _not_ alright" Shun commented "At least you didn't puke _after_ you had the cake."

"You're _a lot_ of help!" Ruri scowled up at her brother, getting up of the floor to retrieve a towel from beneath the sinks. She ran it under the cold tap and the pressed it to Yuto's forehead, the boy in question raising his hand to do so himself after some prompting.

"If it is just food poisoning, it should pass within a few minutes" Ruri told him "Just take it easy and you should survive the rest of the party without a problem."

"Thank you" Yuto groaned, appearing mortified he'd thrown up in front of her "I'm sorry, I'm ruining the party."

"No you're not, and I am most definitely not upset with you" Ruri informed him "My brother on the other hand…" she glared over her shoulder at Shun, who fidgeted awkwardly. "I pray for your future children because you are lousy at taking care of sick people!"

"Hey! How am I supposed to know what to do with a guy who's puking his guts everywhere?! Just let him get it out of his system, right?!"

"You lived in a refugee camp! How do you not know how to take care of sick people?!"

"We were refugees of war! Not the plague!"

Yuto groaned and rested his forehead against his knees, the bickering siblings giving him an even worse headache than the puking had.

* * *

"This'll be the last one! I promise!" Yugo declared.

"Kill me now" Yuri groaned in response.

"It's the easiest thing ever – all you have to do is make arm movements" Yugo explained, grabbing Yuri's arms and thrusting both his hands into the air in opposite directions "First is Y," then he bent them "Then M, then a C, and finally A! YMCA!"

"I'm done" Yuri declared, finally reaching the end of his tether. For once, instead of being angry, he was just drained.

"Come on! How has Fusion not heard of the Village People?!" Yugo cried, chasing after Yuri as the Fusionist vacated the dance floor towards the nearest empty corner of the room.

"I am a horrific dancer" Yuri groaned "I have cast shame upon all of Fusion."

"Look, man, it's just a party dance" Yugo reassured him "You just need some help with the more modern stuff, that's all."

"I can waltz" Yuri informed him quietly "It was part of my Academia Elite training."

"Well, as many questions about the Professor as that raises, that's good" Yugo grinned "I don't know how to waltz. Maybe you could try teaching me?"

"Absolutely not" Yuri scoffed.

"Come on, _please_ " Yugo pleaded "No one's even watching us, they're all too busying dancing."

Yuri looked around the room from their position to confirm Yugo's assessment. The Synchro boy was right – the only ones even vaguely near them were the ninja brothers, who appeared to be struggling to hold their plates and hold up their scarves so the party food could make it to their mouths at the same time. No one was paying attention to them.

Finally, he sighed with frustration. "Fine. Put your hand on my waist."

Yugo roared with laughter, understandably.

Yuri tried to keep his simmering temper in check. "Be serious, Yugo, and follow me."

Almost immediately Yugo stood on his toes, then chuckled.

"Looks like we both need dance lessons."

* * *

"Hey guys! Gather round! They're finally cutting the cake!"

Sora's cry immediately had the entirely party rushing for the bride and groom's table, where the wedding cake had been stood tantalisingly under a glass hood. Yuzu finally removed the hood, then took a large gulp out of her champagne glass, draining it dry and slamming it down on the table. Yuya looked like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it.

She picked up the knife and glanced at Yuya, who gave a nod of approval. She sliced a large chunk from the bottom and placed in on a paper plate, then repeating the action with another one. She stabbed a fork into one slice and thrust it towards her new husband. He did the same, giving his wife an even bigger slice. They clinked forks.

"This is to you, my wonderful husband" Yuzu shot him a wink as they dug into their desserts.

However, before Yuya could get a bite, he was startled to find something that felt very much like cake slap into the bottom of his face.

Yuzu covered her mouth with her hand, the remains of the cake falling harmlessly onto the plate. "I love you, Yuya."

The roared with laughter.

Yuya just stood there, stunned for a moment, before his face split into a grin that was more Yuri than Yuya. "Oh, I love you too, Sweetheart."

He abruptly smooshed his cake slice into the bottom of _her_ face. A piece of icing fell from her chin to her dress and Yuya prepared for the consequences, but to his surprise, this just made her – and their audience – laugh harder.

"So" Yuzu gestured to the remaining cake "Who wants a slice?"

The decision was unanimous. Whilst most people took their paper plates and left, a small group, mostly consisting of former Lancers, sat down at the bride and groom's table, some pulling up extra chairs so they could sit together.

"Are you alright Yuto?" Sayaka asked "You don't look very well."

He didn't – not at all. His tie had been pulled lose, his clothes are crinkled and his face was turning from a rather fetching shade of green to being pale as a ghost. He was also the only one at the party not eating any actual cake, just the icing from Shun's slice.

"I'm fine" Yuto reassured her, but his eyes drifted to the boy sitting next to her and he nearly had a heart attack at what he saw "What happened to your head?"

Allen scoffed, his jaw tightening with anger. "Some jackwit pegged me on the head with a champagne glass. Looks worse than it is."

"Head wounds bleed a lot, even when they're not that serious" Sayaka supplied wisely.

Sawatari nearly choked on his cake. He went into a coughing fit that Gongenzaka tried to rectify with a pat on the back, but a pat from Gongenzaka was the equivalent of a punch from a regular-sized person so he really just made the problem worse.

"Geez, I wonder who that could've been" Serena smirked at Allen's bewilderment.

"Jackwit?" Reira frowned, like he didn't understand what the insult meant.

"Nii-san says it's rude and I'm not supposed to call people that" Haruto supplied helpfully.

Kaito smirked with pride at his wonderful younger brother.

"…Unless they really deserve it. People must deserve it a lot because he does it all the time."

The smirk turned into a displeased frown.

Allen finally figured out what was going on and instantly glared daggers into Sawatari. "That was YOU?!"

Sawatari didn't respond – he was still choking to a swifter death than Allen would grant him.

"Man, this cake is really good!" Yugo declared happily, scraping his empty plate with his fork. Opinions ranged on whether he was trying to diffuse the dangerous aura emanating from the Xyz boy sitting next to him or if he was just truly oblivious.

Sayaka couldn't help it – she laughed with disbelief. "And we thought some drunk guy threw the glass."

Sawatari finally recovered from his respiratory distress and raised a finger in protest. "Hey! That's no fair! I wasn't drunk!"

"Oh! I'm not saying you were!" Sayaka waved her hands to try and rid the upset look directed at her. After all, it was Sawatari who'd bought her bridesmaid dress for her. "We just assumed the guy was drunk because people make silly decision when they're drunk."

Yuri scoffed and muttered: "Speak for yourself."

"You're a terrible drunk" Dennis pointed out, but shut up when Yuri levelled That Look at him. The look that usually preceded a murder.

"Sawatari doesn't need to be drunk to make bad decision" Serena chipped in "He can do that just fine when he's sober."

A series of sniggers and snorts of laughter rose up around the table.

"Guys, come on, don't pick on Sawatari" Yuya tried to prevent a fight from breaking out.

However, him putting an end to the laughter had an unexpected effect. Shun had been muttering something under his breath, which was magnified for the entire table to hear by the sudden lack of noise to cover it up.

"Say what you want, Fusion Girl. Just wait until you get plastered at the end of the night…"

"SHHH!" Yuto suddenly hissed with a startled look on his face.

Ruri looked between the two sitting either side of her with a look of confusion. "What's going on?"

"That's what I want to know" Serena frowned, glaring at Shun "Care to elaborate, Kurosaki?"

Shun gritted his teeth. "I don't have to answer to some Fusion-"

"ENOUGH!" Everyone at the table jumped as Yuzu stood up with a look of fury on her face "It's my WEDDING! Can't you all just get along for _one night_?! One night! That's all I ask!"

Clearly at a loss for words, everyone shut their mouths and kept eating their cake in silence, the only comment being a muttered one from Dennis to Yuri about who clearly held the balls in the newlyweds' marriage.

Still stood up, Yuzu suddenly started giggling uncontrollably, covering her face with her hands.

"She's clearly lost her marbles" Gongenzaka commented, summing up the thoughts of the entire table.

Yuzu shook her head, her words slurring slightly. "I'm sorry guys, I didn't really mean it. To be honest, I think I'm a little tipsy right now."

Yugo face-palmed with a groan. Shun folded his arms and sighed huffily, like he couldn't believe Yuzu had dared to make him lose his bet.

Yuto threw his hands up in the air. "Well, there goes my money."

"I think that goes for all of us" Yuya pointed out, smiling with what was probably a touch of disbelief "I guess we all underestimated my wife's alcohol tolerance."

Serena scowled at him. "What?"

Ruri looked between Yuto and Shun, puzzled, as the pair noticed her and tried to pretend they didn't have a clue. Yugo looked put out as Rin glanced at him questioningly.

The whole table was startled yet again when a loud hooting noise echoed from just behind them. Edo, who'd been talking to Asuka away from the table last anyone had checked, had suddenly started cheering and doing a victory dance, pumping his fists in the air. It was so unlike anything they'd ever seen Edo do before that, that the whole table couldn't help but stare.

"That's it! I won! I won!" he declared "Cough it up, all of you! I won fair and square!"

Everyone was silent for a moment, staring at Edo in amazement as Edo stared back with smugness, before Kaito rolled his eyes, reached into his pocket and pulled a bill out of his wallet.

"You got lucky" he muttered, passing the money on to Edo.

Dennis sighed dramatically before doing the same as Kaito, although his face broke into a grin when he saw Yuri doing the same thing also.

"He sucked you into it too, huh?" Dennis commented, passing their bills to Edo "Who did you vote for?"

"Myself" Yuri muttered "I thought I'd drink myself into a stupor as soon as I got here, but Yugo and stupid dancing kept me away from the drinks table."

He glared at Yugo, who just grinned back at him sheepishly.

Yuya appeared shocked, but amused. "It appears we weren't the only ones to make a bet tonight."

"Bet?" Gongenzaka frowned "What bet?"

"Funny" Yuto commented "My money was on you, Kaito."

Kaito looked visibly grumpy at the fact he'd had to fork over money, particularly in front of Haruto, who was shaking his head disappointedly at the fact his big brother had made a bet about something so stupid. "I thought it would be Allen."

Allen spat out the champagne he was drinking. "Eh? What?"

"Me too!" Yugo grinned, raising his hand.

"Yugo, you were betting on who would get drunk first?" Rin was also looking disappointed "That's inappropriate."

"I wasn't the only one who thought it would be Allen, though!" Yugo pointed out, but Rin still didn't seem impressed.

"You thought I was going to get _drunk_?!" Allen yelled, highly annoyed.

"I thought Serena who be the first to fall off the wagon" Shun told the table.

"I said that as well!" Dennis said, although he quickly shut up and cowered in his seat when Serena shot a glare at him.

"Enough of this nonsense, guys!" Yuzu jumped out of her seat, apparently unfazed that people had been betting on who would be the first to get completely drunk at her wedding party. "Let's go dance already!"

With that she pulled a startled Yuya to his feet and dragged him to the dance floor.

"I've had enough of dancing" Yuri sulked.

"But you never finished teaching me how to waltz!" Yugo pouted, grabbing the attention of the whole table, to Yuri's dismay.

"You were teaching him how to waltz?!" Dennis looked ready to burst into tears of laughter.

Yuri slouched in his seat. "It wasn't voluntary."

"But you were having so much fun" Yugo pointed out.

"No I wasn't!"

"But you were-"

"The only fun I have is hearing my enemies scream for mercy before I card them!"

"Great, now you've set him off" Sora commented as Yuri stood off from the table and marched off in a random direction, Dennis winking to the rest of them before following him, probably to go calm him down and prevent a massacre.

Yugo appeared put out for a second, before he remembered he had a wife. "Hey, Rin, will you dance with me?"

Rin considered the offer. "You know, I've never danced a waltz before."

"Then I'll show you!" Yugo perked up and lead her to the dance floor, despite the fact a faced-paced pop song was blaring and not any music that could be used to waltz to.

Haruto stood up as well. "Come on Reira, let's dance too!"

The two younger boys also headed to the dance floor, Kaito watching them anxiously.

"Should I be concerned?" he muttered, probably meaning for it only to be to himself, but Shun overheard.

"Relax, the kid's not even a real Akaba" the older Kurosaki informed him, which seemed to take a small amount of the weight on Kaito's shoulders off.

With that knowledge, Kaito stood up and headed over to the buffet table, which would allow him the best view of the dance floor so he could keep track of the boys.

"Over-protective bastard" Sawatari muttered after him, though thankfully Kaito didn't hear him.

Speaking of protective older brothers, Shun turned to address Ruri, only to find she and Yuto had disappointed. "Where did they go now?"

"I think they were intending to go the bathroom" Gongenzaka commented.

Sora tutted. "Puking up all that lovely cake. For shame."

"Speaking of puking" a mean grin spread across Sawatari's face "How's that speech coming along?"

Gongenzaka turned pale and fled the table, Sawatari chasing after him with declarations of: "I don't care how sick you are, you're getting up on that stage and spouting a sonnet or something!"

Shun got up, heading for the bathroom to "comfort" his sickly friend, leaving Reiji, Serena and Sora alone at the table.

Sora, having ran out of cake, went to cut himself another slice.

"Hey, don't eat all of it" Serena protested "That's for everyone, you know. Don't make me hide from you."

Sora stuck out his tongue out at her as he cut himself an extremely large slice.

Serena rolled her eyes. "God, I swear I can name five kids at this party that have better manners than you. Like _his_ for example."

At 'his', Serena jutted her thumb over her shoulder at Reiji, her eyes moving to look at the man in question. He was sat with his legs crossed, his hands folded over his knee and a small smile on his face, watching the crowd with a look of…contentment.

"What about you, Chatty Cathy?" Serena decided to talk to him, since Sora was a lost cause "You're looking happy tonight. Since when were you a priest, anyway?"

Reiji didn't say anything, his smile just widened a little bit and he stood up, moving over to the other side of the room, though Serena doubted it was to dance. She would pay good money to see _that_.

"Hey, watch where you're goi-OOOOOH!"

SPLAT!

"Please tell me no" Serena muttered, looking down at the floor with some trepidation "Tell me he didn't."

Sure enough, on the floor lay Sora, his face covered in cake and icing from when he had face planted his plate.

* * *

"Er, I think Gongenzaka's turning blue."

At Halil's comment, Sawatari snapped his head up and looked at the man sitting next to him. Sure enough, Gongenzaka was clutching his fork and his glass and didn't appear to be breathing.

"Hey! Hey, get it together, big guy!" Sawatari shook him by the shoulder "You have a speech to make and you're not wriggling out of it!"

"Are you still on about that?" Masumi frowned "Give him a break, he's clearly going to pass out at any moment."

"I am not having Yugo spoiling Yuya's big day!" Sawatari insisted to her before turning back to the unfortunate victim of his hounding "Come on, cut it out! Yuya's best buddy! You can't ruin his wedding!"

To Sawatari and Gongenzaka's never ending relief, Serena stood up on her chair and tapped a spoon against her glass to get everyone's attention, clearly indicating she was about to make her speech first.

"Hello, everyone. I think I know most people here. If I don't, it's because Yuya invited you. In that case, I pity you for having to take time out of your busy lives to make him feel slightly less pathetic that usual."

A few nervous laughs and awkward coughs rose up from the audience as Yuzu looked like she was really started to regret not making Ruri the Maid of Honour.

"This is going well" Olga declared sarcastically.

"But in all seriousness, let me tell you a little bit about the couple we're here to celebrate" Serena went on "I've been to hell and back with some of these people, some of them literally. And through it all, even if he was naïve pain-in-the-butt the whole way there and back, Yuya was without a doubt the most optimistic of us all. When we were feeling down and ripping at each other's throats, Yuya was always there to remind us what we were all fighting for. He was always willing to put his life on the line, not just for Yuzu, but for all of us, even when he barely knew us. He may not have the biggest brain, but he certainly has the biggest heart out of all of us, and I know he loves Yuzu with every bit of it." She smiled at the newlyweds. "Yuzu may have opened my eyes to a world beyond Academia, but Yuya showed me it, and I can't imagine her with anyone else. She's always been selfless and considerate and one of the most caring people I know, and she deserves someone like Yuya. And Yuya deserves a woman as beautiful and amazing as Yuzu. So cheers for the wonderful couple, Yuzu and Yuya."

"Yuzu and Yuya!" the crowd echoed, most of them impressed that Serena managed to pull out a speech like that.

Serena blushed as the guests applauded, ducking her head as she got down off her chair. She could tell Yuzu was crying and was quick to avoid her eyes.

Regardless of Serena's efforts, Yuzu stood up and threw her arms around her Maid of Honour and sobbed into her shoulder. "Serena that was beautiful! Thank you! I love you! I love you!"

Serena looked increasingly embarrassed, especially when someone from the crowd yelled: "Don't get jealous, Yuya!"

"That's okay, you don't have to say anything" Serena tried to reassure the visibly tipsy bride.

Yuzu sniffed loudly and the tears kept coming, the waterworks not looking like they were going to end soon.

Yuya took her arm gently. "Come on, sweetie, why don't we get you some water?"

"So you can detox" Yuri muttered under his breath, pretty much summing up what everyone was thinking.

"I'll do it" Asuka offered, leading Yuzu away from the tables "Enjoy your party."

"Come on, where's the Best Man's speech?" Sora spoke up "Hey, Gongenzaka, how're gonna top _that_?"

THUD!

"I don't think he's going to be topping anything anytime soon" Masumi commented as Gongenzaka's eyes rolled into the back of his head and his face slammed onto the table top.

"No no! You can't faint!" Sawatari frantically started shaking Gongenzaka's shoulders again "Hey! Wake up!"

"Dude, he's out cold" Hokuto pointed out "Someone's gonna have to do it for him."

Yugo perked up, looking over his shoulder at the Xyz table. "Someone's going to have to be the best man? Well, Yuto, how do you feel about standing up in front of a large crowd, all of them staring at you, as you open your mouth and let things come out of your throat."

"Don't be an asshole Yugo" Yuto groaned, slumped in his chair but not puking anymore "Take your victory lap, you won."

Yugo faked being shocked. "But who? Me? But I don't even have a speech planned."

"Stop milking it" Rin sighed, getting increasingly annoyed "Just get up and say your piece. Just make up something."

"NOOO!" Sawatari wailed, resting his head against the unconscious Gogenzaka "You've doomed us all!"

Yugo grinned as he stood up on his chair, clearing his voice loudly to get everyone's attention. "Hey, everyone! I know I'm not actually the Best Man, but the Best Man's kinda out of action at the moment and Groomsmen 1 and 2 are suffering from cakeface and pukeface, so I'll just have to do."

A few of the guests laughed.

Yugo whistled with appreciation "Wow, this is one heck of an interdimensional shindig. Interdimensional, like, the people. Not the place, but that would be kinda cool to see, right? I mean, we'd be standing on asteroids and stuff, right?"

A few laughs, again, but less of them this time.

"I mean, look at all the people here!" Yugo continued "We have people from Fusion and Xyz and my hometown of Synchro! Synchro rules, right guys?!"

Shinji and the kids cheered loudly, Jack tipped his glass in agreement right behind them. Crow and Rin both conspicuously looked at their feet as a few faces from the other two dimensions mentioned tightened with disapproval.

"It's so weird, right? I mean, a few years ago, most of these people sat where would be trying to murder each other, right?"

Yuto groaned loudly and put his head in his hands as most of the room reacted with disapproving mumbles to that comment. Even if most of the people in this room got alone with or at least tolerated each other, the Interdimensional War was still a touchy topic for some of them.

Sawatari kept on muttering "I told you. I told you. I told you."

Rin stood up with a sigh, ready to be Yugo's rescuer, but to her surprise, someone dragged her chair away to put next to Yugo's, standing up on it with their glass raised as well. A lot of eyebrows sprung up at who it was.

"I think what my Synchro counterpart means to say," Yuri diverted the room's attention to him instantly "Is that all of us have both done and experiences terrible things in our lives, and even now we're still trying to move on from them. However, despite all of that, we've all managed to put out troubles aside to come together for one day to celebrate two of our dearest and courageous friends. And that, to me, speaks highly of not only them, but us as well." He raised his glass up high. "So I dedicate this toast for putting aside out troubles in the name of love and kinship."

"To putting aside our troubles" the crowd repeated, some with more enthusiasm than others. Likewise, some members of the crowd drank to the toast with more enthusiasm than others, Yuto and Rin standing out among the rest.

Yugo gave Yuri a pat on that back that nearly knocked him off his chair. "Thanks man, you saved my bacon."

Yuri rolled his eyes. "Whatever, just don't make me say all that mushy crap again or you're a dead man."

Yugo got this mischievous look in his eye as he raised his glass, and Yuri saw what was about to happen a split second before he did it.

"Don't you even think-"

"I declare this toast to Yuri, for saving my bacon!" Yugo announced.

The masses laughed so much they forgot to toast, but Yuri went red with embarrassment anyway and hastily vacated the room, muttering about the various places he could hide Yugo's mutilated body after the party was over.

"I love you guys, you know!" Yuzu declared upon sitting down in her seat again, making sure she made eye contact with everyone at the table (besides the passed out Gongenzaka).

Serena patted her counterpart's hair, her eyes gleaming with happiness. "We love you too, Yuzu."

* * *

"Everyone's alive."

Reiji had found, over time, that he never really liked ground floors. Maybe it was because, as a man who had once been a 6'4" sixteen-year-old, he wasn't used to having to look at something from eye level; he was used to seeing the world from above. Hence, he found he liked to reside in tall places – the two of skyscrapers for instance or, in this case, a second floor balcony.

It also had the added benefit of keeping him away from the rest of the masses, who wouldn't think to look for him up here. Except for Reira, of course.

"Did you expect something else?" Reiji inquired.

Reira shuffled his feet awkwardly. "Well, yes. Thirty people from four different dimensions all coming together for a day? I thought they'd be at least one major fight."

"You mistake their bitterness for rashness" Reiji explained "Everyone here wouldn't think twice about biting their tongues for the sake of Yuzu and Yuya having a happy day. That's why I was confident we would make it through the day unscathed."

Both Akabas looked over the balcony as some members of the wedding party ran outside to dance around the fountain. Or to catch Yuzu before she jumped into the fountain, it was somewhat hard to tell.

"You ordained them" Reira pointed out "Why?"

"I thought the less people who didn't know the details of the Interdimensional War invited, the better" Reiji explained and Reira had to admit, that was a good point "I see you were getting along well with Haruto tonight."

"He's not that bad" Reira admitted "Could…Could I go to Heartland to see his action figures some time?"

"I don't see why not" Reiji agreed "I also notice Beary didn't make an appearance today."

Reira looked at the ground. "I left him at home. I'm thirteen now – it would be rude of me to bring him to such a fancy event. It would be disrespectful."

Reiji noticed Reira had squeezed himself into the corner of the balcony, allowing him the best view of the doors that led back inside and not allowing anyone to sneak up on him. It saddened him to see Reira still so skittish after almost a decade of peace, but he'd already vowed to allowed Reira any coping mechanisms he needed to get through every day.

"Nonsense, no one here would think anything of it" Reiji told him "And if they dared something about Beary, I'd just have to have a little talk with them, that's all. Don't feel ashamed about carrying him in public – you don't ever have to sacrifice your own happiness for the sake of someone else's, Reira."

Reira stared at Reiji was wonder for a few seconds, before his gazed turned solemn again. "Okay."

Reiji looked back over the balcony again. Dennis had gotten a hold of Yuzu and was joking holding her over the dish of fountain amid yells for Yugo not to ruin the dress and frantic pleas from Shuzo to "put down my baby!". But harmless jokes aside, everyone was having fun, laughing and acting, just for one night, like they weren't children who'd grown up in the shadow of war.

Reiji smiled. "See, they're going to be just fine."


End file.
